Notes / Commercial Description:
Peter Brown Tribute Ale is malty American Brown Ale, brewed with molasses, brown sugar, and hopped with Cascade and Centennial. It's just the way Pete would have wanted it.

Reviews by seanbhudson:

APPEARANCE:
22 ounce bottle with no date. Pours a very dark brown color with copper highlights. It has a medium tan head and a little lacing.
AROMA:
Moderate aroma of toasted malt, chocolate, caramel. Coffee aromas come out as it warms. Overall a tad sweet.
FLAVOR:
Chocolate, brown sugar and coffee. Light earthy hops at the end. Hints of cola. Earthy hops get stronger as beer warms.
MOUTHFEEL:
Medium body beer with a slightly creamy texture. Moderately high, fizzy carbonation.
DRINKABILITY:
A well balanced beer. One of the best browns I have had in a long time. More earthy hops than many other browns but it kept it from tasting too sweet.
NOTES: BDBS

More User Reviews:

Poured out of a 22 oz bomber a deep brown with some reddish highlights thru ou with a rather thin off white fizzy head.Love the rich aromas here deeply roasted malt and caramel with a nice raw nuttiness in there as well.A bigger than normal brown here and packed with flavor,milk choclate and caramel up front but a dry,earthy raw nut finish make this quite complex and very drinkable.I have to say this is one of the better browns I have had,heres to ya Pete Brown!

Pours a deep reddish brown with one finger of splotchy light brown head. Taste is lightly earthy malt, some brown sugar, and some subtle hops. Also a bit of molasses and coffee. Medium, creamy mouthfeel with a dry earthy finish. Overall a good brown ale, but nothing that really sticks out for me. A bit to earthy.

22 oz bomber pours out an extraordinary appearance. It looks opaque, dark brown in the glass, but held to the light, exhibits a stunningly clear, ruby mahogany body. The tan head is a generous, three fingers tall and hangs around for quite awhile. Impressive sheets and patches of lace decorate the glass.

Aroma is subdued, with caramel and burnt brown sugar up front. Vague, floral hops are in the background.

Mouthfeel is well carbonated, and medium bodied.

Taste begins with a Porter-like chocolate, with some brown sugar in the background. Some smoky, chicory nuttiness emerges near the end, reminding me of a dry Stout. This has plenty of hop bitterness, and balances out well.

This is very well crafted, and nicely balanced. I'm just not a fan of American brown ales, and this one doesn't change my mind, in spite of my affinity for Bear Republic.

Bomber bottle with no freshness dating. Leaves alot of creamy and thick lacing. Malty, cocoa nose.The bottle talks about this being a "strong American Brown ale", but this one really tastes more British in style. Its tastes are fairly muted and reserved. It does show off a well developed and lucious sweet,malty backbone. Notes of vanilla, caramel, light chocolate. Medium bodied, easy to quaff, a pleasure to swill with food. Tasty and very drinkable Brown ale.

Picked one of these bombers up at Stateline Liquors on my visit back to Delaware...the store is across the line in Elkton, MD and well worth crossing the line :)
Pours a dark brown w/ a very light beige head...carbonation is very high, as 3 full fingers of head forms w/ little effort. Tiny bubbles cascading upward w/ very little clingy lace.
Faint aroma of chocolate, vanilla, and again carbonation.
The taste is nice...packed w/ sweet malt and hops. A slight smokey taste at the end and a tad bitter in the finish.
Mouthfeel is typical for its style...although I have read fellow BA's compare this more to a stout, I have to disagree. This is my idea of a sweet, hopped up Brown ale w/ nothing extreme in any given angle.
I could enjoy a bomber of this easily and would enjoy again if given the opportunity, especially on tap. Not my favorite style, but a nice offering and tribute from BR.

Clear, dark amber with a medium tan head. Nutty, toasted malt aroma, blended with caramel and cream. More hoppy than expected for a brown ale, lots of caramel, cocoa, with some licorice and brown sugar. Its good, but I wanted more from these guys, especially for a tribute ale.

A caramel and light chocolate nose.
Pours dark brown under a tan, finely bubbled 1/2" head that leaves a ring of lace with each drink.
The fruity prune chocolate palate suggests a cake but the initial sweetness dries out and ends with a slightly astringent drying finish.
Medium to medium full body with medium carbonation.

An incredibly dark pour for a brown ale; this is as dark as some stouts I've had. Nearly no light penetrates through, and the body is a deep, dark ruby mahogany. Thin tan head; little lacing.

Baking bread and roasted grain aroma. A nutty aroma as well.

Roasted malts, some nuttiness, a hint of chocolate and bready flavor, along with some definite hop bitterness.

A thin mouthfeel, which I'm beginning to expect with brown ales, but this one seemed particularly thin and not too well carbonated. The only disappointing aspect of this beer, and truthfully, it really didn't take away from it much.

Before I actually saw this bottle, I was thinking this was a tribute to Pete's Wicked Ale's original formula rather than a former employee named Pete. Either way damn good brew, I had bought a growler without reviewing it. Appearance is deep mahogany brown in color with a large tan head left behind, each sip layers evenly with beautiful lacing on my tall pint glass.

Aromatics offer milk chocoalte and creamy notes with fresh minced herbal mint tones arising from the hop profile. A touch of coffee with nutty tones edge their way out as well, balanced with mild fruit notes and more earthy hop doses. Definitely a mult faceted brown ale more breweries need to make this style this complex, maybe it would be more popular.

Mouthfeel is medium to fuller bodied, pure velvet really. Carbonation is ded on residual sugars stick around coming off a bit sticky at times but never cloying.

Drinkability is A+ for sure, one of those beers that can just as easily sipped as gulped by the pint, I definitely savored this 22 ounce offering more so than when I drank the growler around a camp fire earlier in the summer. I like the fact that a brown ale from Bear Republic adds some diversity to their lineup, I love all of the Racer brews, Hop Rod, Red Rocket, and XPA but their styles all border each other for me. The Black Bear and this brew hold their own and are unique in their styles.

Poured from an undated but recently purchased 22oz bottle into a Unibroue snifter.

A: The beer is a deep dark brown color, with reddish tones. The short off-white head fades quickly and leaves only a tiny ring in the glass and a few spots of lace on the glass.

S: The aroma is a bit subtle, but has a nice and comples blend of roasted malts, maple/caramel, toffee, nuts and spicy hops.
[3.75]

T: The taste starts sweet, malty and nutty. Mid-taste has a less sweet and darker roast flavor, with a bit of molasses coming into play. The finish and aftertaste have a good sweet-bitter balance. The hops are mild but but strong enough to bring out a good balance and to add a nice layer of light spice to the flavor.

O: An easy drinking beer, as is typical for style, but richer and slightly darker in flavor than average. Easily recommended, although perhaps a little closer to an average brown ale than I expected from this outstanding brewer. Do not serve very cold.

Got this from a surprisingly good store on P St. near DuPont Circle in Washington DC.

Pours a slightly hazy brown with a one-finger foamy white head. The head sticks around for a good while before dissipating into a patchy layer of bubbles on top and a medium-sized ring around the glass. Lacing is decent.

Smells mostly of molasses, caramel malts, and nuts. As the beer warms there's a mild light chocolate aroma that makes its way out.

Tastes very good. There are robust malts joined by a nutty flavor. Like with the smell, there's a chocolate flavor that asserts itself as the beer warms. There's a very mild bitterness throughout.

Mouthfeel is good. Slightly above average thickness for a brown, with good carbonation. Goes down smoothly.

Drinkability is good, I wish I'd picked up another of these while I was able to.

Overall, this is one of the better brown ales I can remember tasting. Definitely give this one a shot if you see it laying around.